The University of Lethbridge Students’ Union (ULSU) has really outdone itself this year, organizing the most ambitious welcome week this university has ever seen. Never before in this university’s forty-one year history has a Students’ Union planned so bold a welcome as Fresh Fest. Over the next three days, the endemic of Fresh Fest fever will overwhelm this campus. Hopefully the student community can take something lasting away from this festival; after all, the real objective of this week’s activities is to strengthen the student community and student relationships here at the U of L.
Fresh Fest festivities begin this evening with Fresh Flix—a free 9 pm screening of the film Iron Man—and culminates with Saturday’s twelve-hour rock bonanza Fresh U Jamboree. Friday will be chock-full of activities and challenges as Fresh Fest teams compete for a plethora of fantastic prizes.
Tonight’s screening of Iron Man is designed to ease Fresh Festers into the high-energy social activities that will take place over the next few days.
“We wanted an event that starts out chill and climbs to the pinnacle which is Fresh U Jamboree,” says SU President Adam Vossepoel.
“New kids are able to ease themselves into being surrounded by five-hundred other people without having to instantly participate in high energy activities,” adds Vice-President (VP) Academic Jenn Prosser.
Free popcorn and refreshments of the non-alcoholic variety will be served at the Iron Man screening. The movie will be shown outside the PE Building; look for the giant thirty-foot big screen—it’s a can’t-miss.
Friday is when Fresh Fest kicks into second gear and all those “high-energy activities” take place. Fresh Factor begins at 11 am as hundreds of ‘Freshies’ decked-out in their bright Fresh Fest t-shirts and bandanas will compete in a series of challenges. Teams will be allocated points for their efforts, which will be tallied up at the Fresh Friday Night Barbeque in the Zoo (our campus pub located on the top floor of the Students’ Union Building). Fresh Fest teams will compete in various challenging exercises that include jousting, relay races, mini-bikes and Name That Tune. Ten challenge stations in all will be set up around campus, which they will be staffed and sponsored by some of the U of L’s most prominent student clubs such as the Kappa Sigma fraternity, the Management Students’ Society (MSS) and the Agriculture Students Society (the Aggies). The afternoon of high-energy social interaction dies down at 4 pm. Alas, the reprieve for Fresh Festers will be short-lived, as just an hour later the Fresh Friday Night Barbeque begins.
Doors to the Zoo open at 5 pm. There, Freshies will be able to indulge in some libations and, at 6 pm, much needed-sustenance of the barbeque form will be served. The meal for Freshies is complementary—just part of the bargain that is the Fresh Fest package—though pints and high-balls will require Fresh Festers to dig into their own purses and pockets.
Shortly after the BBQ, the ULSU will ask the teams assembled “how fresh is your talent?’ Each team, as a group, will have to showcase a talent of their choosing (uncoordinated dance-off, anyone?). Again, points will be allotted to the teams displaying the most awesome talents. A panel of five judges, which will include your VP Internal Eric Hawthorne, will interpret what constitutes ‘awesomeness’ and will award points accordingly. Finally, at 9 pm, prizes and awards will be given out to the Fresh Fest teams. No team will leave empty-handed, but the teams with the most points will receive the two top prizes: a fifteen-person meet and greet with Van City rockers Hedley and a fifteen-person party package from Essie’s (our local country bar… lots of two-stepping takes place there). Other fantastic prizes such as gift certificates to Mojo’s and Corner Pocket will also be given away.
Saturday is the big show: the Fresh U Jamboree is what will make this year’s welcome week the most ambitious this campus has ever seen in its forty-one year history.
“It’s going to probably be the biggest thing that Lethbridge has seen in a long, long time,” states head SU honcho Adam Vossepoel.
“Wow, hyperbole much Mr. Vossepoel?” I ask.
“No, no,” he deadpans, “this is huge.”
Fresh U Jamboree begins at noon on Saturday in the far west parking lot and it does look to be shaping up ‘huge.’ The guitar riffs and overhead handclaps are scheduled to endure until midnight that evening. Seven western Canadian acts in all will entertain 1,500 students. Vancouver-based Hedley is the most commercially successful act featured on the bill; lesser-known (but still incredibly awesome) bands such as Calgary’s Hot Little Rocket will also appear. Former U of L student Michael Bernard Fitzgerald will return to campus again on Saturday and rising singer-songwriter Dan Mangan will make his Lethbridge debut at Fresh U Jamboree.
Tickets for non-participants of Fresh Fest to the Fresh U Jamboree are twenty-five dollars and can be purchased at the Service Centre located in the SU Food Court, or at the ULSU offices located on the level below the food court (SU 180). Tickets will not be made available at the door. Tickets for Fresh Fest participants are included in the Fresh Fest package (see below for more details), but non-Fresh Festers are encouraged to act fast because the 1 000 tickets left over for the Jamboree are expected to sell quickly. Unlike other music festivals readers may have frequented this summer, alcoholic beverages at Fresh U Jamboree will be reasonably priced at four dollars across the board for both beer and coolers. No draft beer or liquor will be served, outside booze is not authorized and security will be thorough so students are not advised to attempt smuggling less you enjoy pouring out your booze onto the pavement in salute to your fallen ‘homies.’ Backpacks will be searched and even water bottles will have to be emptied before entering the concert. Students must also provide valid government and University-issued identification.
There is still time for interested readers to participate in Fresh Fest. Today in the SU building members of the ULSU will be selling Fresh Fest packages for fifty dollars. Included in the Fresh Fest package is admission to Fresh U Jamboree and all other Fresh Fest events. Also included in the package is a bunch of swag worth well over fifty dollars. Fresh Fest is not just designed for first-year students; all students are encouraged by the ULSU to participate and experience the festival.
“One of the big bonuses of this event is that you’re not divided into faculties, you’re not divided into your classes or what clique you were part of in high school – this is a fresh start for a lot of people and a way for people to engage each other in a really fun and positive manner,” says VP Academic Jenn Prosser.
The goal of Fresh Fest is not just to socialize new students with the U of L but also to showcase and strengthen the student community and student culture here at the university. The U of L is often criticized for an apparent lack of student culture and student engagement. The U of L also has trouble retaining first-year students; twenty-seven per cent of first-year students do not return to the University for a second year.
“It’s really a mind-boggling statistic,” says Adam Vossepoel, “one in four students do not return for their second year… A big part of it I think is Lethbridge. Lethbridge is actually kind of a difficult city to get to know people; it doesn’t seem like it, but you really need friends to be successful and to have a good time in your University career.”
The ULSU sees Fresh Fest as a way to address the student retention issue while expanding campus culture. ULSU executives often cite eastern universities as models for student engagement and student activity, but many around the U of L believe that this school has the potential to have just as dynamic a student culture as some of our eastern counterparts. One of these believers is VP Jenn Prosser.
“Eastern universities, smaller ones especially, have a great history of really high student engagement and really great student communities,” she says. “[The] U of L could have that; we have a great campus where people can come together.”
Beyond showcasing the University to new students and promoting campus culture, the ULSU hopes that Fresh Fest will demonstrate to students that their student government sincerely cares for its membership and truly wants them to have the best possible experience at the University of Lethbridge.
“Students are paying us fees in order to give them an experience that’s more than just going to classes,” says VP Jenn Prosser; “this is our introduction to show students how amazing their year can be. Hopefully [Fresh Fest] also shows students that the ULSU genuinely is there for students – we’re not just some nebulous organization in the sky.”
On Saturday, the Fresh U Jamboree—the real kick-off to the beginning of the new school year—brought a huge crowd of students. “Freshers” and other U of L students headed towards the Far West Parking Lot for the show that will likely go down in the U of L record books as the biggest show ever held on University property.
